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In 17SS an actor of the 
-Tame of Fennell was brought forward 
by Jackson, the manager, and given parts 
whioh till then had belonged to a 
very popular actor of the name of Woods. 
In those days an actor acquired, through con- 
stantly playing them, a sort of proprietary right 
in particular parts, and in London and Dublin, 
as well aa in Edinburgh, riots of more or 
importance were not uncommonly caused by 
giving an actor a part belonging by custom to 
an older member of the company. Fennell, it 
seems, had been given the part of Jaffier in 
Gtway's ''Venice Preserved," which by right of 
custom belonged to Woods ; but before the 
it of perfoi-rnancc, Jackson, the 
;ved a letter, subscribed "The Puh. 
which warned him unless t lie cast was altered 
play would not be allowed to go on. No 
notice of this was taken, and when 
ell appeared he was received with a 
mixed noise of applause and hisses, the Litter 
being accompanied by cries of " Oil' ! oil' '. " Fen- 
nell, however, was determined that even if not 
. ed to play the part he would at least have a 
ana with that intention approached the 
;ghts. Silence Ixm'ij^ r< stored, he mado a 
speech, saying that Woods, although oifered the 
part, had refused it, and as for "the piece of 
ainy that had been concerted against him 
ming himself), he thoroughly despised it." 
; then nude for Woods, who, on appcar- 
denied having been o tiered the part, a state- 
it which, however, he withdrew when the 
manager came Jprward and corroborated what 
mell had saifl. ; so on that occasion the play 
allowed to/ go on. The respite, however, 
only tempfrary ; and a few evenings after- 
ls the o}p<jsiiion from the pit was so 
•mined tlat a number of gentlemen leapt 
,i the boxe/to the pit to quell the disturbance. 
ir interfeynce only brought about an indis- 
unate me#e, and not until after many heads 
been bri/vcn did the noise subside. Then 
John Dapymple got up and addressed the 
house, and laving made Fennell give some sort 
ipology/ the play proceeded, and it was 
.>nably/upposed that the storm had ended 
suddenli as it had begun. This was not the 
e, how<pr, for the original fomenters of the 
riot, anion: whose number were included the 
es of pur advocates and several Writers to 
Signtf, seeing that they could not get the 
general wdience to join with them, went to 
infa different way in order to wreak 
their s/te upon poor Fennell. This they 
did bypending a letter to manager Jackson, 
' stating,taat uidesa Mr Fennell was discharged, 
; that n«ther the subscribers themselves nor their 
ifamilif would in future frequent the theatre ; 
. . letter was signed by Robert Dundas, 
dicitor-General for Scotland; the Hon. 
Krskine, Dean of the Faculty of Advo- 
two of the Senators of the College of 
and oncliuadred and seventy-one gentle- 
men ail of them advocates, Writers to the 
or otherwise connected with the law. 
onnell had, of course, to give way before 
su/ powerful opposition, but vented his feel- 
by raising an action at law against his 
of-essors, and published a pamphlet, now 
trly sought for by collectors, containing 
unt of the whole business. 



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THE UNITED STATES. 

Washington, November 10. —The November repc-if 
f the Department of Agriculture says the cottoil 
eturns attest the rapid progress made "with picki 
he unusual cleanness of fibre, and the shortness of . 

te crop in light uplands and in districts most affect 
drought. The following percentages in the varic 

tates, indicating the probable product, are based 

5&«J1 3rop unim paired bv injuries or losses from any 
ause :~ Virginia, 71 ; North Carolina, 74 ; Soutfa 

arolina, 72 ; Georgina, 76 ; Florida, 82 ; Alabama, 
o ; Mississippi, 77 ; Louisiana, 78 ; Texas, 71 ■ 
f^kansas, 80 ; Tennessee, 88. The yield of corn| 
iccording to the revised returns, is 22 bu3bels pei 
tcre, making a product on the present adjustment oi 
icreage of 1668 million bushels. These figures wil 
iot be materially changed in the final review of thi 
•ear's work. The potato crop will be nearly the sam< 
a in 1885, giving a product of 163 million bushels 
Che apparent production of tobacco is 485 inillioi 
)ounds, which comes up to the average requirement) 
or home consumption and exportation. Theapparen 
production of hay is 45 million tons. 

New York, November 10.— The Senate of Verm on* 
las thrown out the Woman's Suffrage Bill. 

The messenger who was in charge of the express ca: 
>n the St Louis and San Francisco .Railway from whicl 
x large sum of money was recently stolen has beei 
indicted for complicity in the robbery. 

The statue of Liberty has remained unlighted sine* 
Saturday for want of funds, Congress having vote* 
none for the purpose. 



At Liverpool yesterday, a widow named Prict 
was found dead in bed, having, it is alleged, beei 
knocked down and kicked by a man named Cusby 
who is in custody. 

Mr Stanhope, Secretary of State for tin 
Colonies, entertained the Executive Commissioners o: 
the Colonial and Indian Exhibition at dinner at thi 
Coloniai Office last night. 

Smith Mathematical Prizes it Camrridgi 
University. — These prizes have been awarded as fol 
fows: — First prize, W. P. Workman, trinity College 
second prize, R. F. Muirhead, St Catherine's College. 

Yesterday evening- Lord Iddesbigh and Si] 
Michael Hicks Beach arrived at Windsor Castle, anc 
were included in Her Majesty's dinier party lasi 
night. 

In the Queen's Bench Division yoterday, Sh 
Henry Jamas asked that the case of Alams v. Cole 
ridge should, with the consent of the paintiff, be oi 
the paper for hearing on Wednesday n>xt, the 17tl 
Lnst. 

Burning op a British Steamel — Intelli- 
gence received at New York (says a Reuten telegram 
From Havana states that the steamer Havirro, from 
Liverpool, has been on fire since Tuesday. 

Liverpool Assizes, — At Liverpoo 
yesterday, Thomas Isherwood, labourer, -as founc 
guilty of the attempted murder of his wiftat Black 
burn, and was sentenced to penal servituo for life 
Peter Fleming, convicted of robbery with valence a 
Warrington, was sentenced to twelve monhfl' hare 
labour and forty lashes with the cat. 

The Lowestoft Fishermen. — A publi< 
meeting was held at Lowestoft last night, tht Mayo; 
presiding, to protest against the action >f t 
Admiralty in releasing the Josephine, whih 
Beiz-ed in British waters with grapnels and "{evils' 
on board. The Josephine was of doubtful natio.ality 
and her release was declared to be derogatory o th< 
dignity of England. 

A Lad Sentenced to Hard Labour. — A%i 
Westminster Police Court yesterday Edmund Tohi 
Lindly (16), clerk in the employ of the Army ape 
Navy Co-operative Association, was sentence ' 
fourteen days' hard labour for stealing some toh 
from the stores. The lad's parents were said to be ' 
respectable, and a strong appeal was made for 
in the shape of a fine. "How can I," replied _ 
Magistrate, " fine an offender like this, when I h 
poor wretches before me driven to crime by 



/o 



Sketch of the History 

of 

The Edinburgh Theatre - Royal. 



The Public is respectfully informed that a Committee of Gentle- 
men, Friends of the Drama, have kindly undertaken to make arrange- 
ments for imparting to the performance of the Last Night a marked and 
interesting character, with a view to recall and perpetuate, as far as pos- 
sible, the many delightful recollections connected with the history of the 
Scottish Stage, which are inseparable from the Building ; and for the 
purpose of showing, as the Committee have been kind enough to say, 
" the respect they entertain for Mr. and Mrs. Wyndham, and their 
high approval of the manner in which the theatrical amusements of 
Edinburgh have been conducted under their management. 1 '' 



Sketch of the History 



OF THE 



Edinburgh Theatre- Royal 



Prepared for this E veiling of its Final (Hosing, 
May 25, 1859. 



WITH A POETICAL ADDRESS 

Delivered on the Occasion. 



WOOD AND CO. EDINBURGH 
1859. 



THEATRE-ROYAL, EDINBURGH. 

Sole Lessee, R. H. Wyndham, 95 Princes Street. l. -• i 

Final Closing of this Tbeatrefr^*** 

On WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 1859. 

The Performances will commence with the Celebrated Comedy, Written by 
Tom Taylor and Charles Reade, Esqs., entitled 

MASKS AND FACES! 

Sir Charles Pomander by Mr. Wyndham. 
Triplet by Mr. Edmund Glover, Lessee of the Princess' Theatre and Theatre-Royal, 

Glasgow. 
Ernest Vane by Mr. E. D. Lyons — Colley Gibber by Mr. Foote. 

Quin by Mr. Ersser Jones — Snarl by Mr Fisher. 

Call Boy by Mr. R. Saker — Lysimachus Triplet by Master Jones. 

Soaper by Mr. Irving — Hundsdon by Mr. Vandenhoff- — Colander by Mr. James. 

Burdoch by Mr. Carroll. 

Peg Woffington by Mrs. Wyndham. 

Kitty Clive by Miss M. Davis — Mrs. Triplet by Mrs. E. Jones. 

Roxolano by Miss M. Foote. 
Maid by Miss Thompson — Mabel Vane by Miss Soph'e Miles. 

After which Mr. Wyndham will deliver 

A FAREWELL ADDRESS. 



To be followed by the Laughable Farce of 

HIS LAST LEGS. 

Mr. Felix O'Callaghan, a Man of Genius on his Last Legs, by Mr. Wyndham. 
Charles by Mr. Irving — Mr. Rivers by Mr. Ersser Jones — Dr. Banks by Mr. Foote. 

John by Mr. R. Saker — Thomas by Mr. Davis. 

Mrs. Montague by Miss Nicol — Julia by Miss Jones — Mrs. Banks by Mrs. E. Jones. 

Betty by Miss S. Davis. 

After which the National Drama of 

CRAMOND BRIG! 

James, King of Scotland, by Mr. George Melville. 

Jock Howieson by Mr. Fisher — Birkie of that Ilk by Mr. Rogerson. 

Murdoch by Mr. Wallace — Officer by Mr. Banks. 

Grime by Mr. Douglas — Tarn Maxwell by Mr. Davis — Page by Miss S. Davis. 

Tibbie Howieson by Miss Nicol — Marian by Miss M. Davis, in which character she will 

Sing the Incidental Song of " A Kiss Ahint the Door." 

To conclude with a 

MOVING AND REMOVING VALEDICTORY SKETCH. 

Mr. Wyndham by Himself — Mrs. Wyndham by Herself. 
Spirit of the Past, Miss Nicol — Spirit of the Future, Miss Davis. 

r The whole Performances terminating with 

The NATIONAL ANTHEM by the ENTIRE COMPANY. 



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Old Theatre -Royal, Edinburgh 



THIS HOUSE, which has been a scene of amusement to 
the citizens of Edinburgh for as long as most of them have 
lived, has at length come to the termination of its own existence. 
Its area being required for a new Post-office, its familiar form 
will, in a few weeks, have vanished from before our eyes. At 
this moment, replete with interest to us all, may it not be said, 
with an affectionate and even tender interest to many of us ! it 
seems but right that something in the shape of an obituary notice of 
the old house should be framed and published ; not in very minute 
detail — that might be tedious — but just sufficiently so to recal to 
us those reminiscences and associations connected with the building, 
which we might desire to think over on such an occasion. 

Our house has reached what, for theatres, may be called a 
good old age, for, owing to sundry contingencies, theatres are 
seldom long-lived buildings. It is ninety years old. It is scared v 
necessary to remark that the notable hospitality of Scotland used 
to make a pointed exception in regard to the children of the sock 
and buskin. Down to the beginning of the reign of George the 
Third, there was no theatre in this kingdom of Scotland under 
the countenance of law. One which was erected at Glasgow in 
1752, received dress parties under the escort of a military guard, 



and before it had existed two years, it was demolished by a mob 
returning from a sermon of Mr. Whitfield. A second one in 
that city was accidentally burnt in the year 1782, when the 
statist, James Cleland, recollected hearing orders given to the 
firemen to protect the neighbouring property, but leave the Devil's 
House to its fate. In Edinburgh, there was for twenty years a 
small play-house in the Canongate, patronised to a moderate ex- 
tent by such fashionable society as then existed in Edinburgh ; 
but during nearly the whole of its term of life, it was conducted 
without license or patent. At length, when the New Town was 
projected in 1767, a clause was introduced into the act, enabling 
his Majesty to grant letters-patent for the establishment of a theatre 
in Edinburgh. Mr. David Ross, the Canongate manager — a re- 
spectable man, who had been manager of both the houses in 
London — obtained the patent; and the foundation stone of the 
present house was laid on the 16th of March 1768, with an in- 
scription ending thus : 

" May this theatre tend to promote every moral and every 
virtuous principle, and may the representations be ever such as 

' To make mankind in conscious virtue bold, 
Live o'er each scene, and be what they behold. - ' " 

Including the purchase of some old claims, necessary for secur- 
ing the patent, the house cost Mr. Ross nearly /*7000. It 
was opened in December 1769. Strange to recal the circum- 
stances of the theatre at its opening. No Princes Street then for 
the belles and beaux — no New Town whatever — only one or two 
houses building at wide intervals. The Noith Bridge unfinished 
and broken down ; ladies and gentlemen obliged to come to these 
mimic scenes through Leith Wynd and other and still narrower 
alleys. Owing partly to these causes, partly to want, of attraction 
in the company, Mr. Ross had two unsuccessful seasons. Becom- 



5 

ing disgusted or losing heart, he leased the house to the celebrated 
Samuel Foote for three years, at five hundred guineas a year. 
This was the fust very great theatrical notability who played in 
Edinburgh. He had a good company, and cleared a thousand 
pounds the first year. Afterwards things did not go so well with 
him. He had a dispute with Mr. Ross, which required the 
interference of lawyers, and he did not come off best. It is told 
that the opposite agent, calling on the manager in London, to 
receive payment of his bill, chanced to mention that he was about 
to return to Edinburgh. "And how do you mean to travel — I 
suppose, like most of your countrymen, you will do it in the most 
economical manner?" "Yes," answered the Scotchman, putting 
the cash in his pocket, "I shall travel on foot (Foote)." And 
so left the wit, looking doubly rueful. 

Foote did not see out his lease, but disposed of it to Messrs. 
Digges and Bland, who, on its expiration, obtained a renewal from 
Mr. Ross for five years. Digges, a spendthrift gentleman of good 
connections, once in the army, and an admirable performer in 
fashionable comedy — had long before been established in favour at 
the Canongate house. Mr. Bland was also a well-connected gentle- 
man ; he had been a Templar ; he had b^en in the army, fought 
at Fontenoy, and was at the darkling encounter with the High- 
landers on Clifton Moor in 1745. For twenty-three years, he was 
an established favourite on this stage. It may be remarked that Mrs. 
Jordan was his niece, and that Mr. Edmund Glover, long after- 
wards and still a favourite in Edinburgh, was also of his kindred. 
Under this management, our house passed several prosperous years, 
made attractive by the performances of Digges, Mrs. Bellamy, 
Mr. Sheridan, Mrs. Barry, Mr. and Mrs. Yates,, and occasionally 
Mr. Foote. We may b'j assured that theatricals received at this 
time some 'encouragement in Edinburgh, from the fact, that Mr. 



and Mrs. Yates were rewarded with seven hundred guineas for the 
fag-end of a season. The gentlemen of the bar, and some even 
of the bench, had been zealous patrons of the drama since the 
Canongate days, even to the taking a personal concern in its affairs. 
They continued to do so for many years after this time. Dining 
being then an act performed at four o'clock, the aristocracy were 
free to give their attendance at half-past six, and did so in great 
numbers, whenever there was any tolerable attraction. So fashion- 
able, indeed, had the theatre now become, that a man of birth 
and fashion, named Mr. Nicholson Stewart, came forward one 
night, in the character of Richard III., to raise funds for the 
building of a bridge over the Carron, at a ford where many lives 
had been lost. On this occasion, the admission to all parts of the 
house was five shillings, and it was crowded by what the journals 
of the day tell us, was a polite audience. The gentleman's action 
was allowed to be just, but his voice too weak. 

In [ 7 8 i , the theatre passed into the care of Mr. John Jack- 
son, who, like Digges, Bland, Foote, and many other performers 
of that day, was a man of good connections and education, drawn 
to the stage mainly by his own taste. We owe to him a very 
dull book, called a History of the Scottish Stage, which, however, 
is serviceable as a collection of facts that might have otherwise 
been lost. In the second year of Mr. Jackson's management, 
Mrs. Siddons came out at Drury Lane in the full blaze of her 
wonderful power. Mr. Jackson made a journey to Dublin, to 
secure a visit from her for Edinburgh, and was successful in 
inducing her to make an engagement. It was on the 2 2d of 
May 1784, that this illustrious lady first appeared on these boards. 
Her part was Belvidera, Jaffier being pei formed by a most 
respectable actor long known on the Edinburgh boards, Mr. Joseph 
Woods. Mrs. Barry and Mrs. Yates had both remarked the 



quietness of the Edinburgh audience. They thought it might 
argue a high feeling regarding the play, while they dfprecated the 
absence of those bursts of applause which elsewhere saluted them, 
and proved not merely gratifying, but useful, as affording them a 
breathing space in the course of an exhausting performance. Let 
Thomas Campbell tell of the reception of Mrs. Siddons, as he 
learned it from herself: — 

" The grave attention of my Scottish countrymen," says he, 
" and their canny reservation of praise till they were sure she 
deserved it, had well-nigh worn out her patience. She had been 
used to speak to animated clay ; but now she felt as if she had 
been speaking to stones. Successive flashes of her elocution, that 
had always been sure to electrify the south, fell in vain on these 
northern flints. At last, as I well remember, she told me she 
coiled up all her powers to the most emphatic possible utterance 
of one passage, having previously vowed in her heart that if this 
could not touch the Scotch, she would never again cross the 
Tweed. When it was finished, she paused, and looked to the 
audience. The deep silence was broken only by a single voice 
exclaiming, 'That's no bad' This ludicrous parsimony of praise 
convulsed the Edinburgh audience with laughter. But the laugh 
was followed by such thunders of applause, that, amidst her stunned 
and nervous agitation, she was not without fear of the galleries 
coming down." 

Professor Wilson once remarked that he would have considered 
this anecdote as a terrible condemnation to the taste and feeling of 
his countrymen, were it not that the laugh showed that civilization 
had made some way among them. 

However calm the Scottish public were about Mrs. Siddons 
during one or two acts, it is certain that this old house never saw 
such a furor< as she excited. The twelve performances she gave, 



including the characters of Mrs. Beverley, Jane Shore, Isabella, 
Lady Randolph, and Euphrasia in the Grecian Daughter, extended 
over three weeks, and during the whole of that time it seemed as 
if no other thing was thought of in Edinburgh. Prodigious 
crowds attended hours before the performance for the chance of a 
place. It came to be necessary to admit them at three, and then 
people began to attend at twelve, in order to get in at three. A 
select set of gentlemen, who had subscribed two hundred pounds 
beforehand as a guarantee to the manager, considered themselves 
thrice fortunate, since it secured them a private and early entrance 
into the pit. The General Assembly of the Church, in session at 
the time, found it necessary to arrange their meetings with some 
reference to the hours at the theatre, for the younger members 
had discovered that attendance on Mrs. Siddons's performances 
was calculated to be of some advantage to them, as a means of 
improving their elocution. People came from distant places, even 
from Newcastle, to witness what all spoke of with wonder. There 
were one day applications for 2557 places, while there were only 
630 of that kind in the house. Porters and servants had to 
bivouac for a night in the streets, on mats and palliasses, in order 
that they might get an early chance of admission to the box-office 
next day. The gallery doors had to be guarded by detachments 
of military, and the bayonets, it is alleged, did not remain 
unacquainted with blood. One day, a sailor climbed to a window 
in the front of the house, for a professional and more expeditious 
mode of admission ; but he told afterwards, that he no sooner got 
into the port-hole, than he was knocked on the head and tumbled 
down the hatch-tvay. Great quantities of hats, wigs, shoes, and 
also pocket-books and watches, were lost in the throng, and it was 
seriously alleged that a deputation of London thieves, hearing of 
the business, came down to ply their trade. At the more thrilling 



of the performance, the audience were agitated to a degree 
unprecedented in this cool latitude. Many ladies tainted. This 
was particularly the case on the evening when Isabella or the Fatal 
Marriage was performed. The personator of Isabella has to 
exhibit the distress of a wife, on finding, after a second marriage, 
that her first and loved husband, Biron, is still alive. Mis. 
Siddona herself was left at the close in such an exhausted state, 
that some minutes elapsed before she could be carried off the stage. 
A young heiress, Miss Gordon of Gight, in Abel deenshire, was 
carried out of her box in hysterics, screaming loudly the words 
caught from the great actress, " Oh, my Biron ! my Biron ! " A 
strange tale was therewith connected. A gentleman, whom she had 
not at this time sebn or heard of, the Honourable John Biron, 
next year met, paid his addresses, and married her. It was to her 
a fatal marriage in several respects, although it gave the woild the 
poet Lord Byron. Strange to say, a lady lived till January last, 
the Dowager Lady G * * *, who was in the house that evening, 
and who never could forget the ominous sounds of " Oh, my 
Biron ! " The writer of this little memoir has heard the story 
related by another lady who was also in the house that night, and 
who died so recently as 1855. 

By her performances in Edinburgh on this occasion, Mrs. 
Siddons cleared nearly ^1000, her benefit alone yielding ^350 ; 
all this being over and above the profits of a night given to the 
Charity-Workhouse. It was remarked that the doctors ought to 
have given her a piece of plate, for there prevailed for some time 
after her visit a disorder called the Siddons fever, a pure conse- 
quence, as was believed, of the unusual exposure, excitement, and 
fatigue, to which she had been the means of subjecting a large part 
of the community. There were then few journals of any kind in 
Edinburgh, but they were all enthusiastic in her praise. Aid 

B 



here, by the way, it may be remarked that one of these organs of 
intelligence contained a note from a correspondent, not rating the 
people for coldness, but advising them to rein in their applause till 
the close of the various scenes, as it was felt by many to be a dis- 
agreeable interruption, and was probably so felt by Mrs. Siddons 
herself; further stating, that to restrain applause in her case was a 
rule observed in Drury Lane. This forms a curious comment on 
Mr. Campbell's anecdote. We do not know any thing about 
the alleged rule at Drury Lane ; but we have Mrs. Siddons' own 
word for it, that occasional applause is felt as an agreeable relief, 
if nothing else, by all performers. 

Mrs. Siddons visited Edinburgh again in 1788, when the 
Faculty of Advocates presented her with a piece of plate, bearing 
to be " an acknowledgment of respect for eminent virtues, and of 
gratitude for pleasure received from unrivalled talents." At a 
third visit, which took place in 1792, ten nights produced 
^1233, and her benefit ^154. 

Some unlucky ventures and an unfortunate dispute with the 
public in trying to support Mr.' Fennel, a member of his company, 
against an older favourite, Mr. Woods, brought Mr. Jackson's 
management to a close in 1792 ; and Mrs. Esten, an admired 
actress, then became the lessee and patentee. Meanwhile, Mr. 
Stephen Kemble, in the course of his active peiipatetic life, had 
made an endeavour to obtain the Edinburgh Theatre Royal, and, 
disappointed in his object, had procured the erection of a new 
house, which he called a Circus, at the head of Leith Walk. 
Mrs. Esten succeeded in obtaining a decree of the Court of 
Session against the acting of plays in this theatre, as an invasion of 
her patent ; but the new house was nevertheless permanently detri- 
mental to the old, as it continued to furnish amusements akin to 
the theatrical for many years. 



In April 1794, when the French Revolution was at its acme, 

and the fears of society at their highest amongst ourselves, the 
Edinburgh Theatre Royal became the scene of a riot which 
attracted a good deal of attention at the time, yet perhaps may be 
said only to mark how little of real danger there then was in the 
political state of Britain. The play of Charles the First had 
excited controversial feelings in the audience, and a batch of hot- 
headed Irish students in the pit made their sentiments audible. 
Some gentlemen of the opposite stiain rose and demanded that 
the orchestra should play God save the King, and that the 
audience should hear it standing and uncovered. The democrats 
sat still, and kept on their hats. A few violences followed, but 
the affair passed off without serious consequences. A scene 
somewhat similar took place two nights later, and it became evi- 
dent that bad blood had been engendered. Next Saturday 
night, by a sort of tacit understanding, the two sets of people met 
once more in the house, and the young Irishmen again refused to 
make any loyal demonstrations at the demand of their opponents. 
There was a wild feeling abroad, and it demanded an outlet. 
The parties had brought sticks for offence and for defence. 
When the democratic party, therefore, refused to pay obeisance to 
the tune of God save the Kin?* the Tories attacked them with 

o » 

their sticks. A desperate fray ensued, and there were many 
broken heads on both sides. Some of the sufferers had to be 
carried away in sedans. The generation of writers' clerks was 
said to be active on this occasion on the Tory side, and amongst 
these figured Walter Scott, then a young man newly come to the 
bar. He never after ceased to feel a glow of pleasure at the re- 
collection of the youthful frolic, and it was a rich treat to hear 
him tell of a Highland solicitor's apprentice, who, on hearing 
some one express a. hope there would be no blows, exclaimed, 



12 



" Plows, by Got ! " and fell on. At the distance of thirty years, 
on an opportunity occurring of speaking a good word in favour 
of an application of this person for a situation in the Exchequer, 
Scott felt bound to use his influence, from a friendly feeling about 
the Playhouse Rotv. 

Between this time and 1809 the Theatre was in a struggling 
condition. The debts encumbering it prevented the bringing 
down of good actors, and the want of good actors prevented the 
debts from being paid off. A speculative Italian, named Signor 
Corri, took up the Circus as a place for concerts and other enter- 
tainments. At the same time, Signor Urbani tried to have card 
and music meetings in the Assembly Rooms. If it be true, as 
we are told by an intelligent foreign visitor in 1800, that very 
few people in Edinburgh then spent a thousand a-year, and that 
they were considered rather important persons who had three or 
four hundred, we shall readily understand how, in these circum- 
stances, neither the Theatre, nor Corri' s Rooms, nor the Assem- 
bly Rooms could be flourishing concerns. Corri was eminently 
unsuccessful. It was he who pathetically declared, "that he be- 
lieved, if he were to become a baker, people would begin to give 
up eating bread." During the last years of the century the Theatre 
was under the management of Mr. Stephen Kemble, who was an 
inimitable Falstaff, and whose wife is allowed to have been an 
excellent comic actress. Under his reign, in 1795, our Theatre 
sent forth a candidate for theatrical honours in Mr. Heniy John- 
ston, the son of an Edinburgh citizen, — a young man of Apollo- 
like grace of person, and no small amount of general talent, and 
who, by way of heightening the surprise of the public, chose to 
come out in Hamlet and Harlequin in one night. He held a 
prominent place in the London theatres for many years afterwards. 
Speaking of Hamlet reminds us of a Shakespeare- Square legend as 



13 

to a ghost which haunted the Theatre about that time. It was 

alleged that, after the close of the house, tar on in the night, Mr. 
Jackson's family, who lived over the box-office, would hear strange 
noises pervading the building, as if our mimic scenes were in the 
course of being mimicked over again by some phantoms more 
unsubstantial than even themselves. What the real cause of all this 
was, has not been recorded. But there is certainly something 
attractive to the imagination in the idea of a haunted Theatre. 
Think of the Royal Dane's ghost exceeding its rehearsed part by 
supererogatory performances after midnight, or the fays of the 
Midsummer's Night's Dream, here keeping up the ball after Hermia 
and Helena and Lysander and Demetrius had all gone home to 
their lodgings in James's Square and Greenside. 

In 1800, Mr. Jackson became ostensible purchaser of the 
Theatre for the sum of ^8020 ; and for several years after that 
date it was conducted by Mr. Rock, an excellent actor, but who 
never succeeded in making the house very attractive. One of the 
few points of his reign worthy of notice was the appearance here 
of the Toung Roscius, a boy who for a brief space passed with our 
fathers as a great actor. The Edinburgh public viewed with 
intense interest this lad playing Young Norval on the stage, and 
the venerable author of the play blubbering in the boxes, and 
declaring that till now his conception of the character had never 
been realised. Under all changes of dynasty, there were old 
favourite performers who, like Goldsmith's parson, " ne'er had 
changed or wished to change their place." Such was Mrs. 
Charters, the sustainer of old lady parts, who closed in 1807 a 
connection of thirty years with this Theatre, being succeeded in 
her line by Mrs. Nicol. It is rather curious, that, Mrs. Nicol 
having been succeeded in 1834 by her daughter Miss Nicol, there 
have been only three persons to sustain this class of characters from 



the year 1777 to the present time. Another established favourite 
was the Mr. Woods already mentioned, who had played high-class 
parts for fully thirty years previous to his death in 1802. Burns 
wrote a prologue for Mr. Woods, attracted to him by his having 
been the friend of his own predecessor Robert Fergusson. Woods 
used to bring Fergusson to the Theatre, and plant him in a place 
he specially liked, namely, the centre of the front row of the dress 
circle. So Fergusson's nephew informed the writer of this 
memoir, adding that the young Edinburgh bard used to mark 
applause not by clapping, which he thought a common-place style 
of approbation, but by bringing his fist down like a hammer on 
the front of the box whenever any thing particularly pleased him. 
It is pleasant to consider that all the eminent literary men of 
Edinburgh during the last hundred years, have been more or less 
intimately associated with the history of this old house. None was 
more so than the prince of them all, the immortal Scott. From 
his earliest years he was a lover of the drama, and as soon as he 
had a home of his own, he used to give the principal actors the 
benefit of its hospitalities. The admirable tragedian, Charles 
Young, was one of his first theatrical friends. Afterwards he was 
on intimate terms with both Mrs. Siddons and Mr. John Kemble. 
At the expiration of the second twenty-one years of the patent in 
1809, it was transferred to a set of assignees, two of whom were 
Walter Scott and Henry Mackenzie. It was at Scott's sugges- 
tion, that Mr. Henry Siddons, only son of the great tragedienne, 
applied for the patent, which was readily granted to him, and at 
the same time entered into an arrangement for the possession of 
the house. Now commenced the most brilliant part of the history 
of the Edinburgh Theatre- Royal. Mr. Siddons's powers as an 
actor were respectable : he was a scholar, a man of literary talent, 
and a gentleman. It was also of some importance, that he pos- 



'5 

sessed a patrimony which he was willing to risk in the speculation. 

In his beautiful young wife, quondam Miss Murray, he had aw aid 
of the most valuable kind. It wafl to be hoped, too, that his 
mother and his uncle John would lend their powerful assistance 
by occasional visits. So they really did, on terms doubtless satis- 
factory to all parties — but it is said that a rather awkward response 
came to the young manager's first applications. He had bethought 
him that to have his mother and uncle to act together on these 
boards, would be a very decided hit indeed ; and he wrote to 
them separately, asking what they would expect for a short 
engagement. Mrs. Siddons replied that she would be content 
with half the proceeds of the house and a free benefit. Mr. 
Kcmble replied, that with a free benefit, in addition to half the pro- 
ceeds of the house, he would be happy to come for a short period. 
We may imagine how Mr. Siddons looked when he read the two 
letters. 

It was indeed a brilliant time for the house, when it had Mr. 
H. Siddons for Archer, Belcour, and Charles Surface ; Mr. 
Terry for Sir Peter Teazle, Sir Anthony Absolute, and Lord 
Ogleby ; Mr. Mason for stern guardians and snappish old men 
in general ; William Murray for almost anything requiring clever- 
ness and good sense ; Mr. Berry for low comedy ; Mrs. Henry 
Siddons equally for Belvidera and Lady Teazle ; Mrs. Nicol for 
Mrs. Malaprop, and an endless variety of inexorable old aunts, and 
duennas; and Mrs. William Penson for Audrey, Priscilla Tomboy, 
and William in Rosina ; when Mrs. Joanna Baillie had a play 
brought out on our stage, prologued by Hemy Mackenzie, and 
epilogued by Scott ; and when even the scenery and decorations 
were in the hands of artists of reputation, such as Mr. Nasmyth 
and Mr. J. F. Williams. Mrs. Siddons came in March i S i o, and 
performed a round of her great parts — still appearing in the eyi 



16 



our fathers, the female Milton of the stage, as she had done twenty- 
six years before in the eyes of their fathers. Mr. John Kemble 
stalked on in July, the first time he had graced the boards for ten 
years. But the glories of the season are not yet exhausted. The 
handsome Irish Johnstone, with his inimitable Major O' Flaherty 
and Looney M'Twolter ; Emery, with his face like a great 
copper kettle, in such English rustic parts as Tyke and John 
Lump ; Mrs. Jordan, with her romping vivacity and good nature, 
in the Country Girl, and other such parts ; such were amongst 
the other rich treats presented to the Edinburgh public in that 
single year 1 8 1 o. 

For several years Mr. Siddons conducted the Theatre in the 
same spirited manner, veiy much to the gratification of the public, 
but to his own impoverishment. Hard work and anxiety brought 
him to an early grave in 1815, to the universal regret of the 
inhabitants of Edinburgh, for he had previously enjoyed their 
entire esteem and respect. His mother, now living in retirement, 
returned to the stage for a few nights, for the benefit of her son's 
family ; on which occasion, though now sixty-two, no one 
professed to see any falling off in her marvellous powers. Mrs. 
Henry Siddons carried on the house, with her brother William 
Murray as stage-manager ; and it continued as before to have an 
excellent standing company, and to be graced with occasional visits 
from eminent performers. The beautiful young Irishwoman, Miss 
O'Neill, who seemed to have been designed by nature to catch the 
tragic mantle as it fell from Mrs. Siddons' s shoulders, paid her 
first visit in August 181 5, and on that occasion the competition 
for admission to the house was such as to have only one precedent. 
Porters were again seen bivouacking for the night on straw at the 
box-office door, for the purpose of taking seats next morning for 
their employers ; and it became a recognised amusement to go 



'7 

after breakfast and witness the scenes to which irritable Highland 
blood gave rise, as the men Straggled and pushed for admission 
when the hour for the opening of the door drew near. Mr. Reaii 
came in October of the ensuing year, and electrified the refined 
play-goers of Edinburgh, as he had done those of London, by 
his intense expression, his mid action, and perfect originality. 
Mathews, with his wonderful humour and powers of mimicry ; 
Polly Stephens, with her exquisite voice and charming hoydenly 
simplicity ; Braham ; Sinclair ; Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kemble ; 
were among the other celebrities of the period who occasionally 
came amongst us. Yet these, and all the talents of Mis. Henry 
Siddons, and of an excellent company, failed to make the house a 
prosperous concern. About the opening of the season of 1S19, 
things were looking rather gloomy with poor Mis. Henry, who 
had two thousand pounds to pay each year as rent and purchase- 
money together. It seemed doubtful that she could hold out 
much longer. One day, a paper came from a solicitor acting for 
a party connected with the proprietory of the house, arresting such 
money as was due in her hands, till certain contending claims 
should be settled; and she and her brother felt truly thankful for the 
occurrence, the literal fact being that they had no money gathered 
wherewith to make payment. At this moment a happy change 
of fortune was in store for them, and it was the genius of Scott 
which brought it about. 

The novel of Rob Roy had been dramatised operatically by 
Mr. Pocock, and had been a success at Covent Garden in the 
preceding summer. It was now prepared for the Edinburgh 
stage, with a capital cast of parts, and a good deal of expense for 
fresh scenery. On Monday the 15th of February 1819 — it 
seems allowable to be particular in such a piece of theatrical 
history — the play was presented here. Never had there been 



IS 



such a hit. " The triumphant success of Rob Roy, or Auld 
Lang Syne," said the next morning's play-bill, " renders all com- 
ment unnecessary — it will be repeated every evening till further 
notice. " And it was repeated without interruption till the forty- 
first time ! A play -goer of that day feels some consolation for 
his now necessarily advanced years, in recalling the charm of 
everything connected with that performance ; the absolute life- 
likeness of Mr. Mackay's Bailie; the tragic dignity of Mrs. 
Renaud in Helen Macgregor, the marvellous truthfulness of Duff's 
Dougal Creature, the neat propriety of Mr. Murray's get up in 
Captain Thornton, Mr. Hamerton's manly Rob Roy, Mr. Chip- 
pendale's Mr. Owen, Mr. Alexander's Rashleigh Osbaldistone, 
Mr. Benson and Miss M'Alpine in the youthful hero and heroine, 
all admirable. Then the Scotch feeling of the whole play, as 
well as its music — rarely indeed does such an enjoyment present 
itself. Scott came with his family, and laughed as loud as any 
other people, appreciating, above all, the Bailie, which he long 
afterwards declared to be a complete realization of the character. 
Well, this happy play filled the treasury of the theatre. What, 
with it, and its successors the Heart of Mid-Lothian, Guy 
Mannering, etc., there was never more any difficulty during the 
remainder of Mrs. Henry Siddons's lease and patent. 

When George the Fourth visited Edinburgh in August 1822, 
he ordered the play of Rob Roy at this house, and marvellous 
was the scene presented that day at the doors. Some people waited 
there from an early hour in the morning, and a heavy rain from 
twelve till six seemed to have no effect in dispersing the crowd. 
There were already some changes in the list of performers, Mr. 
Hamerton being replaced in Rob Roy by Mr. Calcraft, after- 
wards manager of the Theatre Royal, Dublin, and Mr. Benson by 
Mr. Huckel, while Mrs. Henry Siddons took the part of Diana 



Vernon. But the whole cast was admirable. The King was 
observed to applaud the Dougal Creature very heartily, and lie 
afterwards expressed himself as much pleased with the whole per- 
formance. 

It may be just worth while to mention that up to 1851, the 
play of Rob Roy had been acted nearly four hundred times in 
this house. Mr. Calcraft, however, has stated a still more remark- 
able fact ; he saw Rob Roy announced in a play-bill of Mr. 
Ryder's at Perth, in 1 829, as to be represented by his company for 
the 500th time! In one week during the king's visit, Rob Roy 
and the Heart of Mid-Lothian, without any other attraction, 
brought a thousand pounds into the Edinburgh theatre. 

Another circumstance may here be worth mentioning — for I 
think it cannot be heard without a feeling of interest by an Edin- 
burgh audience — that we still have in the house one of the original 
performers of Rob Roy, namely, Miss Nicol, whose part of Mattie, 
though subordinate, was done in a manner forming a happy augury 
of future excellence. 

It was perhaps impossible for any Theatre of its kind to be 
better conducted than this was during the years between 1820 
and 1830. It is with a melancholy pleasure that one who was 
then young recalls the figures, whether constant or occasional, 
which night after night vivified the scene. Genteel, wiry Mr. 
Jones, for Mercutio and Charles Surface, — Mr. Yandenhoff for 
tragic parts, — Mr. Mackay, Mr. Mason, Mr. Stanley, all excel- 
lent in their several comic departments, — Denham, with his bulky 
figure and thick voice, in King James and Dandy Dinmont, 
unapproached and unapproachable, — Mr. Murray himself, not 
allowed to be a jot below the Listens, the Mundens, and the Dow- 
tons of the London houses. Such were the men. Mis. Henry 
Siddons, beautiful, graceful, with a voice which seemed to penetrate 



20 



the audience, — Miss Noel, a delightful warbler of Scotch songs, — 
Mrs. Nicol, in old lady parts, — Mrs. Renaud, admirable in 
tragic melodrama. Such were the principal ladies. At one 
time during this period, we had scenes painted by the hand of 
David Roberts, while the orchestra included the hautbois of Mr. 
T. Fraser, which had witched the soul and flooded the eyes of 
Burns. Charles Kemble, Edmund Kean, Liston, Mathews, 
Terry, Sinclair, and James Russell, were among the visitors. 
Miss Paton gave us now and then her fine round of parts in 
English opera. Miss Mary Tree melted us in' the Maid of 
Milan. Miss Foote delighted us with her Maria Darlington and 
Lady Teazle. Verily it was worth while for a play-goer to live 
in those days. 

It was at this prosperous time that the Edinburgh Theatrical 
Fund was instituted for the relief of decayed actors. Its first 
dinner, in February 1827, was presided over by Lord Meadow- 
bank, and among the guests was Sir Walter Scott, ever the friend 
of the players in his native city. He now, as you all well know, 
completed a series of obligations to our Theatre, by connecting 
with it a most remarkable fact in his own literary history, avowing 
himself at this dinner as the sole and undivided author of the 
Waverley Novels. The rapturous feeling of the company, on 
hearing the momentous secret let forth from his lips, no one 
who was present can ever forget. Scott, it may be remarked, 
was sensible to various impulses which are utterly blank to other 
men. There were associations about Mr. Murray and his sister, 
as " come of Scotland's gentle bluid," and the grandchildren of a 
man prominent in the Forty -five, which helped not a little to 
give him that strong and peculiar interest in the Theatre- Royal 
which he constantly displayed from 1809 downwards. 

In the year 1830, Mrs. Henry Siddons's twenty-one years of 



the patent came to a close. Her completion of twenty-one annual 

payments of two thousand pounds to the representatives of Mr. 
Jackson, at the same time made her proprietress of the Theatre. 
On the 29th March, she took farewell of the Edinburgh stage in 
the character of Lady Townly in the Provoked Husband, being 
inclined to spend the remainder of her life in retirement She 
carried with her the good wishes of all Edinburgh, for they had 
recognised in her not merely the accomplished actress, but the 
good mother, the refined lady, and the irreproachable member of 
society. Mr. Murray, obtaining a renewal of the patent for 
twenty-one years, leased the house from his sister for the same 
period, and it was on the whole a successful speculation, though 
there were no longer Waverley Novels to be brought upon the 
stage, and the supernumerary house in Leith Walk was an almost 
constant dead- weight upon his hands. At the termination of his 
lease in 1851, he also retired from the stage with a moderate 
competency, which, however, he lived but a short time to enjoy. 
The Theatre was afterwards leased for a season by Mr. Lloyd, 
and for a brief period by Mr. Rollison and Mr. Leslie, none of 
whom contrived to render it profitable. The few years of Mr. 
Wyndham's lease and most meritorious management complete its 
history down to the time when the curtain of fate is at length to 
close upon it, after a chequered career of ninety years. 



ADDRESS 

D ELIVERF.D BY M R. WyNDHAM. 



Whate'er we do, howe'er our parts are caft, 
'Tis ever fad to fay, — this is the laft. 
This is the laft, this night we take farewell 
Of the Old Houfe endeared by fancy's fpell, 
Where Memory fees thro' long departed years 
A train of joys and forrows, fmiles and tears : 
Tears with no bitter tafte, and forrows fweet 
As fummer mowers, where rain and funfhine meet. 

Here — and for one brief moment let me view 
Thofe pleafant bygone years as one of You, — 
Here, long ago, the grandfire, once a boy, 
Felt his firft raptures of dramatic joy, 
And hailed returning with revolving time 
The marvels of the Christmas Pantomime. 
Here the ftaid Matron, then a maiden my, 
Firft heard from Romeo's breaft the lover's figh ; 
By Juliet's lips firft heard the love expreffed, 
That fince has made her heart and houfehold bleft. 
The Melodrama taught us here to glow 
With hate for wrong, and fympathy for woe ; 
Till the broad Farce foon dried the tear we shed, 
And fent us tired with laughing home to bed. 



*3 

How many thoughts, how many names unite 
To caft upon thefe walla a glorious light ! 
Siddons and Kemble lure difplayed their art, 
Potent as Nature's felf to fway the heart ; 
Here mewed thofe matchlefs powers that firmed defigned 
To fathom all the depths of Shakfpeare's mind, 
And bring up beauties to our wondering view 
Such as the plodding critic never knew. 
We witneffed here O'Neill's expanding youth 
In all a woman's tendernefs and truth ; 
And here by fate no further doomed to roam, 
The younger Siddons found a lifelong home. 
Stephens' fweet drains have left their echo here, 
And Braham's full trumpet tone yet fills the ear. 
Nor lacked the Comic Mufe her mirthful train : 
Lifton's rich humour, Matthews' graphic vein. 
York fent us Emery, and Erin's I fie 
Gave Johnftone's blandeft brogue and brighteft (mile. 
Jones, RufTell, Mafon, Terry, rife to view — 
Terry, the Actor and the Author too ; 
Murray, with varied powers, himfelf a hoft, 
And he, the Baillie, our peculiar boaft: : 
While, fcattered round, a galaxy of wit, 
Scott, Jeffrey, Wilfon, formed an audience fit ! — 
O days of bygone glory, tell me when 
We e'er mail look upon your like again ? 

And where are thofe who fuch delight could give : 
Dead — or difperfed afar, if any live ! 
Save that Mifs Nicol, her companions flown, 
Like the laft rofe of Summer, blooms alone ! 



2 4 

This claffic ground thus hallowed by the pad, 
To other ufes is refigned at laft. 
Our door is chalked- — there's notice given to quit- 
To-day's the term — to-morrow we muft^/V. 
Soon as the prefent leflening hour is o'er, 
The curtain falls that here will rife no more. 

Another home the Drama foon will find, 
Though carting oft a lingering look behind. 
There be it ftill her effort and her pride 
To range her forces upon Virtue's fide ; 
To make us in her magic mirror fee 
Both what we are, and what we ought to be ; 
With gentle tears, evoked by mimic woe, 
To purify the heart from which they flow ; 
And while fhe mocks the follies of the day, 
To temper Mirth with Reafon's fober ray, 
Pleafingly wife and innocently gay. 
With arts like thefe your fmiles fhe ftill may claim, 
And almoft emulate her former fame. 

'Tis thus alone your favour I would feek, 
And fhew the gratitude I cannot speak. 
Still as I ftrove your kindnefs to fecure, 
My aim has been to keep your pleafures pure ; 
And let me hope, in all I yet have done, 
The Stage has found me no degenerate fon : 
While I may welcome in this bright array 
A happy omen for my future way. 

Here then, to-night, we bid the Part: adieu ! 
To-morrow to frefh fields and paftures new, 
Where 'tis our treafured hope to meet once more — with You. 



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